OK, this is going to sound like its from left field but its not, or so I hope.
The reason that gun owners are caricatured as rednecks is that they are the most potent force in the nation to maintain the constitutional government against socialist revolution. And one common denominator among all true "liberal" organizations is that they are seeking revolution.
The list of nations which have suffered revolution is endless and the technique is always the same. From Cromwell's England to Lenin's Russia to Hitler's Germany and on to Cambodia, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Sudan we find the same pattern. The revolutionaries seek to hoist their own flag at the expense of whichever ethnic group or political group might oppose them most effectively.
Revolution does not take overnight. In America's case it has taken thirty years as the former Weathermen, SDSers, Black Panthers et cetera have matured to form the new middle aged mid career backbone of the press corps, the DNC and other "establishment liberal" organizations.
Pity the poor gun owners who are the final protection this country has against revolution. They have been singled out for a multi year elimination campaign. That in many cases they are doctors, lawyers, accountants, farmers, janitors and other "salt of the earth" types just solidifies the notion that for revolution to succeed they must be eliminated from society.
Who did they guillotine in France? Who did they gas in Germany? Who did they bury in the killing fields of Cambodia? The persons who by virtue of education, temperment or culture were most likely to try to stop the subversion of the nation.
So in answer, no gun owners are not rednecks. They are rocks in the road to socialism and that is why they are being dug out and crushed to gravel.
References:
1) The Anatomy of Revolution by Crane Brinton
2) The Natural History of Revolution by Lyford Edwards
3) The coming of the French Revolution by Georges Lefebvre
4) The 12-Year Reich by Richard Grundberger
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"Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true."
Homer Simpson... but attributed to Algore.